Potatoes and apples are a great pairing for a late summer and early fall meal.
Latkes are wonderful little fried potato and onion cakes that are commonly served with applesauce and sour cream on the side for dipping them into. These are traditionally shredded potatoes and onions mixed with eggs and flour then fried in a skillet until crispy brown. The potatoes and flour will soak up quite a bit of the oil and will often make for a greasy cake.
While these are delicious, they can be prepared in a less fattening manner using a George Foreman Grill. Because the potatoes and onions are shredded, they will cook fairly quickly on a contact grill.
Latkes are popular in Jewish cuisines as a breakfast staple or served as a side dish or snack. While applesauce and sour cream are the go-to pairings with the crispy cakes, I decided to grill fresh apple slices and have a side of Greek yogurt for dipping. This seemed more fitting for my slimmer version of potato latkes. I also eliminated the eggs to make them more vegetarian friendly.
This recipe is not vegan because of the dairy, but you can eliminate the yogurt or sour cream. The crispy cakes are really just good by themselves with a sprinkling of sea salt and warm apple slices.
Grilled Potato and Onion Latkes with Apples
Preparation and cook time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2 people as a main meal or 4 as a side dish
Ingredients:
- 2 large white potatoes
- 1/2 a Vidalia onion
- 2 TBS all purpose flour or gluten free baking flour mix*
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste
- Vegetable, olive oil, or clarified butter
- 1 apple
- Sour cream or plain yogurt (optional)
* I find that the gluten free flour mix works really nicely to hold the potatoes together when not adding an egg. These mixes often have a bit of tapioca starch or arrowroot that acts as a binder.
Total time:28 min – Prep time:20 min – Cook time:8 min – Serves:2 people
Author: Nick
Directions:
1. Wash your potatoes and remove the skin from the onion. Slice the onion in half. Grate the potatoes and the onion on a box grater on the larger holes. Place the potatoes and onions in a clean dish towel or strong paper towels. Close the towel tightly and ring out excess water into the sink. They don’t need to be super dry. The starchy potato water will help with holding the cakes together when mixed with the flour. Place the potatoes and onions in a bowl.
2. Add the flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt and pepper to the bowl. Toss all together with your hands so that everything is well coated with the dry ingredients.
3. Preheat your GF grill. Meanwhile, peel the apple and slice into 1/4” thick wedges, discarding the core.
4. Coat the grill plates with oil. An oil soaked paper towel held with tongs works well. Form the potatoes into small, flat cakes approximately 2” in diameter. Place them on the hot grill. Coat the cakes with a little more oil. Close the lid and grill for 4 minutes, checking to make sure they are not burning. Flip them over and grill for another 3 to 4 minutes until a deep golden brown and bubbling. Remove the cakes to paper towels and sprinkle with a little salt. Continue until all of the cakes are cooked.
5. Place the apple slices on the hot grill and close the top. Cook until light grill marks appear, approximately 3 to 4 minutes.
6. Serve the latkes and apple slices with some sour cream or yogurt on the side. You can eat them with your hands or a fork.
These little cakes are very filling, so you may not need anything else. I like to make a pot of steaming coffee to enjoy with latkes. Sometimes I will serve smoked salmon with capers and lemon wedges on the side. Or, I will scramble some eggs and add some chives.
For the vegans in my family, we like to grill some meatless breakfast sausage patties on the Foreman Grill. Most of them are not very tasty, but they are getting better. What makes a vegan breakfast patty taste almost okay is grilling them. I defrost them first, then oil up the grill and cook them until they have grill marks and crispy edges. We’ll serve them with a little bit of pure maple syrup so it feels like a proper breakfast.
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